4 ms·

Ask HN: Recommendation for web hosting

7 points by jun 17y ago

Any suggestions for a good and reliable web host for a website which will be used for experimenting with web programming & database management? Found a plethora of web hosting services out there but there seems to be negative comments for even the higher-ranked services as well. Anything else that I should look out for?

Murkin 17y ago
I, and quite a few other people, went for http://www.webfaction.com/ http://www.webfaction.com/ Excellent support, intuitive management-console and lots of install scripts for various dev platforms.
mdolon 17y ago
This has been asked many times before - http://searchyc.com/hosting http://searchyc.com/hosting My favorite has always been (and continues to be) http://www.linode.com/ http://www.linode.com/ for their value, simplicity, control panel and support. I've always wanted to try http://www.webfaction.com/ http://www.webfaction.com/ too, might give that a shot next for a small project.
- alanthonyc 17y ago
  I'm very happy with webfaction.
- jun 17y ago
  Noted, thanks for the search link and suggestions.
jokull 17y ago
I'd dive into EC2 if you're going to be experimenting. For my purposes it's great to be billed only for your exact usage. Transfers to and from S3 are fast and cheap too.
- keefe 17y ago
  EC2 is significantly more expensive (expressed as percent change) than VPS when you total up bandwidth etc.
  - lsc 17y ago
    If you pay by the year, especially if you don't use much bandwidth (and you won't, if you are just figuring things out) ec2 is quite competitive on price, if you don't mind the problem. the problem with the basic 'small' instances is that if there are system problems, you lose your storage. Sure, you can get around this by paying extra for EBS, but it's another problem you need to deal with (and pay for) that is largely taken care of on most VPSs. (which isn't to say you will never have data loss on a VPS, but all the major providers mirror disk, so it should be fairly rare.)
    - jun 17y ago
      EC2 + S3 sounds great! Unfortunately server self-management is rather over my head at the moment but perhaps I could start out with S3 + shared hosting first, then switch to EC2 when I'm confident.
      - keefe 17y ago
        You're better off with EC2+EBS because EBS allows you to attach permanent storage to your device just as you are accustomed to. S3 is more for backups etc.
rradu 17y ago
There will be negative comments for every hosting service you find, and unfortunately it's difficult to tell by reviews alone if the host is good. Look for one with an uptime guarantee and good customer service. Most have a 30-60 day money back guarantee as well, so you may need to use that if what you get isn't what you expected.
- lsc 17y ago
  Uptime guarantees are rarely worth the paper they are printed on. (and usually they aren't even printed on paper.) Slicehost has no money back guarantee. Linode refunds your 'lost time' (which is fairly standard in this industry.) Were I you, I would completely ignore SLAs and uptime guarantees. the inconvenience downtime causes you will hurt you far more than any reasonable refund can make up for, and the reputation damage hurts us (the provider) far more than any reasonable refund would as well, so really, for a 'getting started' plan, the SLA should be about the last thing you look at.
keefe 17y ago
You want a virtual private server. Like another poster said, linode has a consistently good performance/cost. I'd highly recommend you host your own DNS (I use dyndns).
- lsc 17y ago
  With all VPS services, you are expected to be a SysAdmin. If this is impossible, stop. Do not buy a VPS. find a shared hosting provider that can meet your needs, something like google appengine or hiroku or engineyard, depending on what language you need.
  - keefe 17y ago
    You really only need basic linux shell skills to start. If this is impossible for you, database management and web dev is going to be... challenging...
    - lsc 17y ago
      I'm just saying, there is a big niche for shared hosting providers. Setting up many modern webapp frameworks requires more than 'basic linux shell skills' and it requires sitting on several security mailing lists to watch for holes in the framework, etc...
      - keefe 17y ago
        I dunno, I can't comment much outside of my basic skillset, which is java on the back and jquery or as3 in the front... Security is a whole different animal, one that imho has to be added from the beginning.
oomkiller 17y ago
Use Linode. Also, don't miss out on their library of HOWTOs, they are quite good.
- jun 17y ago
  Has anyone used both Linode and EC2 before? Any comments on the 2 services? Did a prelim computation for the EC2 fee equivalent of Linode 360 with 16GB storage and 200GB transfer. Assuming these limits are maxed out, it seems EC2 is more expensive by 10 bucks.

7 points by jun 17y ago

Murkin 17y ago

I, and quite a few other people, went for http://www.webfaction.com/ http://www.webfaction.com/ Excellent support, intuitive management-console and lots of install scripts for various dev platforms.

mdolon 17y ago

This has been asked many times before - http://searchyc.com/hosting http://searchyc.com/hosting My favorite has always been (and continues to be) http://www.linode.com/ http://www.linode.com/ for their value, simplicity, control panel and support. I've always wanted to try http://www.webfaction.com/ http://www.webfaction.com/ too, might give that a shot next for a small project.

alanthonyc 17y ago
I'm very happy with webfaction.
jun 17y ago
Noted, thanks for the search link and suggestions.

jokull 17y ago

I'd dive into EC2 if you're going to be experimenting. For my purposes it's great to be billed only for your exact usage. Transfers to and from S3 are fast and cheap too.

keefe 17y ago
EC2 is significantly more expensive (expressed as percent change) than VPS when you total up bandwidth etc.
- lsc 17y ago
  If you pay by the year, especially if you don't use much bandwidth (and you won't, if you are just figuring things out) ec2 is quite competitive on price, if you don't mind the problem. the problem with the basic 'small' instances is that if there are system problems, you lose your storage. Sure, you can get around this by paying extra for EBS, but it's another problem you need to deal with (and pay for) that is largely taken care of on most VPSs. (which isn't to say you will never have data loss on a VPS, but all the major providers mirror disk, so it should be fairly rare.)
  - jun 17y ago
    EC2 + S3 sounds great! Unfortunately server self-management is rather over my head at the moment but perhaps I could start out with S3 + shared hosting first, then switch to EC2 when I'm confident.
    - keefe 17y ago
      You're better off with EC2+EBS because EBS allows you to attach permanent storage to your device just as you are accustomed to. S3 is more for backups etc.

rradu 17y ago

There will be negative comments for every hosting service you find, and unfortunately it's difficult to tell by reviews alone if the host is good. Look for one with an uptime guarantee and good customer service. Most have a 30-60 day money back guarantee as well, so you may need to use that if what you get isn't what you expected.

lsc 17y ago
Uptime guarantees are rarely worth the paper they are printed on. (and usually they aren't even printed on paper.) Slicehost has no money back guarantee. Linode refunds your 'lost time' (which is fairly standard in this industry.) Were I you, I would completely ignore SLAs and uptime guarantees. the inconvenience downtime causes you will hurt you far more than any reasonable refund can make up for, and the reputation damage hurts us (the provider) far more than any reasonable refund would as well, so really, for a 'getting started' plan, the SLA should be about the last thing you look at.

keefe 17y ago

You want a virtual private server. Like another poster said, linode has a consistently good performance/cost. I'd highly recommend you host your own DNS (I use dyndns).

lsc 17y ago
With all VPS services, you are expected to be a SysAdmin. If this is impossible, stop. Do not buy a VPS. find a shared hosting provider that can meet your needs, something like google appengine or hiroku or engineyard, depending on what language you need.
- keefe 17y ago
  You really only need basic linux shell skills to start. If this is impossible for you, database management and web dev is going to be... challenging...
  - lsc 17y ago
    I'm just saying, there is a big niche for shared hosting providers. Setting up many modern webapp frameworks requires more than 'basic linux shell skills' and it requires sitting on several security mailing lists to watch for holes in the framework, etc...
    - keefe 17y ago
      I dunno, I can't comment much outside of my basic skillset, which is java on the back and jquery or as3 in the front... Security is a whole different animal, one that imho has to be added from the beginning.

oomkiller 17y ago

Use Linode. Also, don't miss out on their library of HOWTOs, they are quite good.

jun 17y ago
Has anyone used both Linode and EC2 before? Any comments on the 2 services? Did a prelim computation for the EC2 fee equivalent of Linode 360 with 16GB storage and 200GB transfer. Assuming these limits are maxed out, it seems EC2 is more expensive by 10 bucks.